Forever Legends
by BellaNessieCullen
Summary: 140 years after BD. Clara and her sister Sophie have been told the legends of their family their entire lives, Sophie believes every word but Clara thinks they're only stories. A new danger is on the horizon and with six new students, a teacher and a doctor showing up with her surname Clara begins to second guess whether the stories are simply just legends or if its all true.
1. Chapter 1

******This story is canon to my other stories but it CAN be read as a separate story. Only a few things may confuse you but they will be explained**

**I need to mention two very important people before I start this story, Way of Life and KleoCullen. Without either of you two this story would never have happened so thank you. This story is for you both :)**

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**September 2146 **

**Clara Cullen-Taylor**

"There once was a man born hundreds of years ago. He lived in England in the capital city of London, he couldn't remember much of his early life but he was a son of a pastor and someone who hunted vampires, werewolves and witches. When his father grew old he decided to take over and it wasn't long before he came across a real vampire lair, he was a fool enough to try and kill the vampires, leaving him to be bitten and left for dead. This man was smart and hid through his transformation, and finally emerged three days later as a vampire, he was so distraught and horrified by what he was that he tried to kill himself lots of different ways but none of them worked, he starved himself and lived deep in the woods, it wasn't until he fed off a herd of deer that he released he could live off animals and not have to kill humans. This man was called Carlisle and he was the beginning of a long line of powerful and endless descendants. Carlisle Cullen built his family by saving people in danger or close to dying; he made a coven for himself consisting of just seven vampires to start with. The seventh member was a young boy, only turned at the age of seventeen and was the only one in the Cullen coven without a mate, after one hundred years of being alone he finally met the one person he wanted to be with, only she was human. The human decided she wanted to be turned so she could be with the Cullen boy forever but on their wedding night the human fell pregnant with a demon baby; it ripped its way out of her body and ate everything in its path.

"RAWR!" I screamed at my sister, she screamed back and I just laughed.

"That's not the whole story!" my baby sister moaned at me after she was over the shock, it had been so quiet in the room as I told her the legend of Carlisle Cullen that my shout made her scream so loud I was surprised our mother didn't come running into the room. "It wasn't a demon baby, it was a beautiful little girl that was half vampire half human and she married a werewolf and they had werewolf and vampire babies and then they had human babies and they had human babies and so on until we were born."

I rolled my eyes.

"Sure Sophie. Our great great something grandpa is a vampire," I told her and kissed her forehead before I tucked her quilt around her.

"I think it's true. Mommy says shes seen Carlisle, the vampire the story starts with."

"She says she has… but I haven't and I won't believe it all until I do. There isn't just him there's all them other vampires that could have met us already but they haven't, they don't care about us Sophie, if they existed and they were so friendly and loving and family orientated as the stories say they would have come to see me by now. I'm seventeen soon. That's a lot of years they could have met me in," I explained to her. I didn't believe any of it. The vampires hadn't come to see their great great times something granddaughter because they didn't exist, my great great great what every grandpa was dead, somewhere buried or cremated, I didn't know and didn't care.

"I like the stories of the Cullen's."

"Except we only know Carlisle's name, I think it was all just made up Sophie. Im sorry, it would be nice if Carlisle was real, magical even but it's not true," I told her and gave her another kiss. She pouted.

"I dream about the little girl, the half human half vampire one that grew up to have children with a werewolf. All the time, I think shes real."

"Oh so what's her name?" I asked her with a laugh, she frowned then.

"I don't know," she replied.

"Go to sleep Sophie, dream of your half human half vampire friend, just don't get too scared when she comes to suck your blood," I teased her, her eyes widened at the thought.

"They're good vampires! They don't drink human blood."

"That's right Sophie, if you ever see a vampire make sure they have gold eyes, if they have red you have to run," I told her sarcastically.

"I will!" she chimed, completely oblivious to the sarcasm in my tone. She closed her eyes and I shook my head in disbelief, my five year old sister was so gullible it was ridiculous, I loved teasing her.

"Were you telling your sister stories again?" my mom asked as I walked out the room. I shrugged.

"She likes the legends, I just put a twist on them," I smiled. She rolled her eyes.

"Only _you_ think they're not true Clara, I've met Carlisle, he's a kind and gentle man." She told me.

"Yeah yeah," I laughed. "Of course he is… a kind and gentle vampire that never wants to hurt anyone and is a doctor and has saved thousands of lives and survives off animal blood," I said with another laugh.

"It's true." She told me.

"Of course mother," I rolled my eyes and walked to my room, still chuckling. It was the opposite of what a vampire was supposed to be, how did she expect me to believe that?

"You're going to be so sorry when you're proven wrong!" my mom called out.

"No I won't because I'm not wrong," I laughed back. My mom was my best friend; we teased each other just as much as I teased my little sister. My mom was only young when she had me, she was just seventeen, her and my dad were childhood sweethearts and he got her pregnant in high school. It wasn't until I was eleven years old that they had another child, after much persuasion from me. I didn't want to be an only child, I wanted a baby sister and thanks to technology my parents chose the gender of their child and Sophie was born. Sophie was named after my mother's younger sister who died of leukaemia when she was only four years old. I always asked why I wasn't named Sophie and my mom told me that Carlisle named me. This was something I refused to believe after all I had never met Carlisle and the idea of him giving my mom name ideas was just too surreal for me. She claimed she met him when she was pregnant with me and he hasn't been back since. I think part of the reason I was so bitter about my legendary vampire family was because if they had been real they would have saved my dad. He died in an accident the year my sister was born, it wasn't quick, and he was in the hospital for days before he died. I remember, being only eleven years old holding my baby sister in my arms as I watched my mom crying over my father. If my vampire family were real they would have saved him, they would have changed him and he'd still be with us now. We supposedly had some legendary twins in our family, twins that could control when someone died; I didn't believe it for a second but the day my father died part of me wondered why they weren't there. Why couldn't they have been there when he died? I wanted my father back more than anything but I knew I had been dreaming of a false hope. It was then that I knew the legends weren't true. I stopped believing them the second my dad was taken away from me.

After finishing my homework I crawled into my bed, smiling at the frame that held a picture of my dad and saying goodnight to him before falling asleep.

"Clara! Wake up!" my mom was banging on the door. "It's an exciting day today!" she called. I groaned and turned over in my bed, checking the time. It was 7am, time to get up for the first day of school. I was a junior now.

I dressed like a zombie, grabbed my sketch book and shoving it in my bag before lazily making my way down the stairs.

"Good morning beautiful," my mom chimed at me.

"Hi," I mumbled and sat down next to my sister who was already eating her chocolate covered cereal, it grossed me out that she was eating chocolate for breakfast. "Why are you so excited?" I asked my mom.

"Well you wouldn't believe it if I told you," she told me and put my cornflakes in front of me.

"Try me," I mumbled.

"Carlisle called," she answered.

"Of course he did."

"Really?! What did he say mommy?" Sophie asked.

"Why do you encourage her? She's starting school today, her friends will think shes weird talking about vampires and werewolves," I told my mother.

"I don't encourage anything; you're the one that tells her all the stories."

"That _you_ told _me,_" I clarified.

"Well you may have some new kids in school today that's all," she told me and continued to make her coffee.

"Right," I mumbled in return and quickly finished my cornflakes, I didn't believe what she was saying, I just didn't understand why she was encouraging Sophie to believe in all the stories, I knew I told her them but I always reminded her they weren't true, was I the only one concerned for her school life? I had seen bullying first hand in middle school, I wasn't exactly popular growing up, I kept to myself and didn't like attention. I hate birthdays for that very reason, all I wanted to do was draw and listen to music and hang out with my best friend, Elijah. We had met in kindergarten and been best friends ever since. Most people thought we were dating but I had never seen Elijah in that way, he was my best friend and I told him everything, including the legends about my family. He laughed them off with me and was the only person I knew that didn't believe them. I had cousins that lived by me, they were practically my siblings I saw them that often, my mother was close to all her siblings which meant we didn't live far from their family home where my grandparents lived. They all believed the stories too.

"Clara!" my mom called just as I left.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Don't make plans for tonight, you're staying home okay?" she asked, I frowned.

"I'm going to Elijah's after school, I always do," I reminded her.

"As long as you're back before dark. Promise me Clara," she begged, there was something in her voice that concerned me.

"Sure mom, I promise," I said, I didn't understand why she was so adamant but as I made my way to school I wondered what had her worried.

I arrived at school early and found my usual seat in the library to do some sketching before school, I loved to draw, even though I didn't think I was any good it kept my mind off things. It distracted me and I listened to music as I drew what came to my mind, I could spend hours like this.

By the time school started I was in my own little world, I completely missed first period and quickly made my way to second period. It was English and our teacher had left last year, English was my favourite subject next to Art so I didn't want to be late and make a bad impression on the new teacher.

"Clara where were you for History?" Elijah asked meeting me outside the English room.

"Drawing," I shrugged, he laughed, looped his arm with me as we came into the room. The teacher had his back to us; he was on the tablet, writing on the board.

"The new teacher is so hot," Kara winked at me. I rolled my eyes as I sat next to her. Elijah was my best friend who knew everything about me but I did have other friends, ones that weren't really my friends but people I spoke to. Kara was one of them.

"What's his name?" I whispered.

"Good morning class," the teacher announced, Kara didn't reply to me, she just smiled up at him. As he turned around my breath caught in my throat. Kara was right, he was hot, he was gorgeous, and he was also in his thirties, pale, with dark hair and most importantly, yellow eyes. I quickly looked away from him and down to my bag to get my things out.

"My name is Zac; I don't want to be formal in this class room. It's first name basis and we're all friends here, I'm not mister, I'm just Zac." he said with a smile, I saw it out of the corner of my eye, he was dazzling.

"He's so gorgeous," Kara whispered to me.

"He's like thirty!" I glared at her.

"So?" she laughed. I laughed back with her.

"Let's get to know each other shall we?" Zac asked us all. He grabbed his tablet and the register came up on the screen.

I scanned and saw my name under Cullen and frowned. All the teachers knew I went by just Taylor. I'd have to correct him.

"Kara Atten?" Zac called. Kara raised her hand with a stupid grin on her face. "Good morning Kara," he smiled back at her. A few names later he reached mine.

"Clara Cullen-Taylor?" Zac asked, his tone was strange as he said the name. I raised my hand, not looking up at him. "What an unusual name," he said almost in amusement. I lifted my head.

"Actually I go by just Clara Taylor. You need to change your register sir," I told him spitefully.

"No need to call me sir Clara. I'm Zac." he said.

"What's your surname?" I blurted. I was staring into his golden eyes at this point. So familiar and yet it gave off an aura of danger. He just smiled at me but moved on. As he listed more names I dropped my head to my book.

"Elijah Jenkins?" he asked. Elijah raised his hand but I noticed he was looking at me, with wide eyes as if to say 'wtf'. "Nice to meet you Elijah," Zac announced as he moved further down the list.

After English was over Elijah pulled me towards him in the hall.

"What the hell was that? Is he a vampire?" he asked me.

"Shut up Elijah!" I nearly yelled. "No of course not, they don't exist."

"Well he was pretty damn interested in you. What if he's one of your relatives?" he asked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes when I realised he was joking.

"See you at lunch Eli!" I said giving him a pat on his shoulder and hurrying to my next class.

By the time lunch came around I was begging for the day to end. I couldn't stop thinking about our strange new English teacher, since when do teachers ask you to use their first name?

"Hey Clar," Elijah called walking over to me in the cafeteria. He sat by me and observed what I was doing, "not eating again," he frowned looking at my juice carton and sketch pad in front of me.

"I'm just not hungry," I said in return and going back to my drawing.

"What are you drawing?"

"Just doodles," I answered. I had actually been drawing Zac's strange yellow eyes without thinking about it, I often did this. I got so caught up in my thoughts my hand would draw without me realising, on paper, tissues or even the desk. "So what's new?" I asked closing my drawing book and looking up to my best friend. He had just been in sociology and he always found out about school gossip there. The class definitely lived up to its name.

"You heard about the new kids?" he asked raising his eyebrow, New kids… my mom said there were going to be new kids in school today, how did she know? Elijah loved to find out the gossip, he tried to pretend he was cool when really he isn't.

"Nope," I answered and looked around the room, I didn't see anyone I didn't recognise, and it was a pretty small school.

"There are loads of new kids today. One boy was in my math class. And then there's a whole group joining together, they had the morning off for some family meeting or something; they came in for the last period. They're like really rich and they're all siblings but they're also together," he said raising his eyebrows.

"What do you mean together?" I asked.

"Like incest," his eyes bulged.

"Er, that just sounds like an awful rumour," I said, not believing a word. Poor kids, first day and already awful rumours going around about them.

"No I'm just joking, it's not incest because they're all adopted, they're all coupled up though," he told me, I frowned.

"Still sounds weird."

"Look!" he said pointing to the door of the cafeteria, I followed his gaze to see six students walking in, each paired and holding hands. They looked so alike it shocked me; they were all pale and frankly beautiful.

"And do you know what the best part is?" he asked.

"What?" I asked

"Their surname," he said excitedly.

"Are they Hitler's or something?" I laughed

"No… they have the same surname as you," he dragged out dramatically.

"What? So?" I laughed; Taylor wasn't exactly an unusual surname.

"Well your surname isn't exactly common," he said.

"Taylor? Not common? There are three Taylor's in this school alone," I responded

"No not Taylor, Cullen," he said and rolled his eyes.

"Cullen isn't my surname."

"Well it is, you just refuse to go by it for some reason." He said as he started eating.

"Because it's a family name on my mother's side, I don't see why we keep it, when I have kids they're just going to have one surname, two is a pain," I said.

"well I think it's really interesting that they're Cullen's and you're Cullen-Taylor," he responded, I decided to take a quick peak at the so called Cullen's, they had found an empty table to sit at, one of them, the boy with bronze hair was watching me, at first I thought he was just looking in my direction but he really was staring at me, the brunette at his side was following his gaze and locked eyes with me. I quickly looked away and down at my drawing book.

"What's up Clara?" Elijah asked when he saw me acting nervous.

"They're staring right at me," I mumbled with my head down, I tried to use my hair to cover my face. Elijah turned around. "Don't look at them!" I nearly yelled at him.

"Why? They're not looking at you, they're talking amongst themselves," he responded. I frowned and decided to take one last peak. He was right, they were, the bronze and the brunette were talking with each other, I watched the brunette as she spoke, she was really pretty, like super model pretty. It made me a little self-conscious to look at the girls, the blonde was pretty too and the little one with black hair looked like a pixie or a fairy. I expected her to sprout wings any second and fly off. I looked back at the brunette to see she was looking directly at me again, this time she was smiling. She had caught me looking and I involuntary blushed and looked down, using my hair again to cover my face.

"Where are you going?" Elijah asked.

"Library, I've got homework to do," I responded quickly and left the cafeteria. I didn't know what to think… they were Cullen's? Maybe Elijah had got the surname wrong, the only thing is they fit the description of the vampires in the stories I told Sophie, their eyes, they had golden eyes and they were pale and they were beautiful and they didn't eat a thing.

I shook my thoughts off, put my music on and started to draw.

Was it just a coincidence that six new kids and a teacher looked exactly like the description of 'vampires'? All of them had the golden eyes and piercingly beautiful.

"Erm hi… can I sit here?" I heard someone ask. I looked up to see a boy in front of me. He didn't have golden eyes, thankfully. He had warm brown eyes.

"You can't sit on the other twelve tables?" I frowned. He smiled at me.

"This table has the best light. I promise I won't disturb you," he said. He was right. It was the reason I always sat at this table, it was also set back from all the other tables in a bay window. "I like looking out the window as I work. If it's too much bother I'll go somewhere else," he said with a smile, the smile made my heart beat faster than normal.

"Sure," I mumbled, looking away from the boy. I went back to my drawing but I was hyper away of the boy sitting across from me. I took a sneak peak at what he was doing. He was drawing too. "You like drawing?" I exclaimed. He looked up.

"Yeah," he smiled.

"Me too," I returned the smile.

"I'm Axton," he said extending his hand to me. His name was unusual but I liked it, it made me smile more.

"Clara," I answered, shaking it. His hand was strong and large around mine. "You're new here right?" I asked.

"Yeah, my first day," he shrugged.

"Have you made any new friends?" I asked.

"Not yet," he shrugged.

"I'm surprised you don't have twenty girls all over you," I laughed.

"Why would you say that?" he asked. I cringed as I realised what I had said.

"Well er… you're really handsome," I laughed awkwardly. It was the first thing I noticed about him. "Did you come with the other new kids?" I asked trying to change the subject. He was a different kind of handsome to the Cullen's, the Cullen's were strikingly beautiful, alluring and quite frankly painful to look at, Axton was like warm sun, he smouldered and seemed less intimidating.

"There's other new kids? No I didn't I'm on my own," he said sadly.

"Oh right." I said slowly. The conversation just got awkward. It didn't seem like he wanted to be on his own and that just made me feel uncomfortable.

"I have a sister but she isn't around anymore," he told me.

"Sorry to hear that," I said, not sure what he was implying. Luckily the bell rang to signify next period. I shot up and grabbed my things. "Nice to meet you Axton," I said and quickly scurried off. My heart was still beating rapidly from his gaze. A boy had never had that effect on me before and I was slightly stunned.

I went straight to Biology and sat down, it was a new year and new lab partners would be picked but Elijah and I always picked each other.

"Okay class I don't want you to have the same lab partner as last year. You need to make new friends. Pick someone else," Mr Harrison called.

"What no!" Elijah called out.

"Mr Jenkins is there a problem?" Mr Harrison asked.

"Yeah, Clara and I are always lab partners," he frowned.

"Well this year you won't be. Pick someone else," he demanded. Elijah huffed and moved from the seat next to me. I didn't move. I assumed someone would sit next to me, or the kid that was left would have to.

"Kara?" I heard Elijah ask our friend.

"Sure," she grinned as they sat next to each other. I knew Kara liked Elijah, more than just a friend but he was completely oblivious to it.

"Clara?" I heard a familiar voice ask, I looked up to see Axton there. "Mind if I pair with you?" he asked uncomfortably.

"Er sure," I said with wide eyes and moved my stuff to my side of the desk. He sat next to me as the others paired. I saw Elijah watching us curiously. I was about to go back to my drawing when I saw two of the Cullen's walk in.

"Edward and Isabella?" Mr Harrison asked. They smiled and Edward began talking to Mr Harrison, Isabella was holding his hand but ignoring the conversation. She looked around the room and when she saw me looking at her she smiled. I blushed and dropped my head down to my drawing. I was aware of them walking towards me but I didn't look up. They both sat on the empty desk in front of Axton and me. I stared at them from behind.

"How come the new kids don't have to separate?" I heard Elijah ask.

"Because it's their first day. Give them time to settle Elijah. I may allow you to change around again next semester," Mr Harrison answered Elijah. Elijah huffed in response and the class started. I was paying more attention to the two people in front of me than the class itself. Every now and then Edward would turn to Isabella and smile or nod or shake his head as if she was speaking to him but I never saw her mouth move.

"I want you to share your results with a table by you," Mr Harrison said after we finished an experiment.

"Hi I'm Bella, what did you get?" Isabella asked, turning to look at Axton and me. I was too shocked to answer her. Axton happily exchanged results with her and Edward.

"I'm Axton this is Clara," he said afterwards.

"This is my boyfriend Edward," she smiled having already introduced herself as Bella not Isabella.

"I hear you're new too," Edward said to Axton.

"Yeah it's overwhelming," he laughed.

"I agree," Edward smiled warmly. Before they could speak anymore the teacher called our attention back. One thing I had noticed during our brief encounter with Edward and Bella was their facial expressions. They were always so controlled and now I could see them up close their eyes burned gold.

They couldn't be what I thought they were.

They just couldn't. _Could_ they?

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**Hope you all liked the first chapter!**

**If you're interested in who I envision as these characters pictures are on my blog, as well as a family tree connecting Clara to Edward and Bella.**

**Blog: BellaNessieCullen. Blogspot. Com (remove spaces)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all the support on this story! Forever After will be up tomorrow!**

**I just want to point out, this story is not very futuristic, I make small references to how the world has changed in 130 years but I don't want this to be a dystopian or sci-fi FanFiction so I haven't looked too much into it.**

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"Can I write one of your family legends for our English assignment?" Elijah asked me. He was sitting at his desk; I was lounged across his bed doing homework. This is how we spent every afternoon. As soon as school finished at two thirty I went home with Elijah and we did homework together.

"The assignment is creative writing Elijah. You have to make it up," I laughed.

"It is made up… right?" he asked with a wink, I rolled my eyes.

"Of course it's made up but fine, if you want, but it's still cheating," I said with a laugh.

"I kind of want to write the one of the little girl getting burnt alive and coming back decades later super powerful," he muttered to himself.

"That's the most farfetched one of them all," I laughed.

"Exactly," he grinned back and turned to write it down. I looked out at the window and I briefly realised the sun was setting. It sent a wave of panic went through me and I remembered what my mother had told me this morning.

"Elijah I have to get home!" I called over to him. I reached for my phone to see it was dead because I forgot to charge it the night before.

"Why?" Elijah frowned startled by my sudden mood change and quick movements. "You go at six, it's only five."

"I promised my mom," I said grabbing my things quickly.

"Okay," he mumbled and went to grab his jacket.

"It's okay I'll be fine," I said pulling my own on and grabbing my backpack.

"I'm walking you home Clara. I always do," he said with a glare.

"Fine," I smiled sweetly and we left, Elijah was always a gentleman and I wasn't going to try and argue, I was slightly scared anyway after my moms warning. It was already dark by the time we reached the park. This was the bit I hated doing when it was dark but I always felt safe with Elijah. There were a lot of parks in Chicago, it had been enforced a few decades ago to try and improve the environment.

As we walked through the wooded area I could swear my heart was beating out of my chest.

"What's wrong Clara?" Elijah laughed. "You look scared."

"I don't know. I just want to get home. I promised my mom I'd be home before dark," I said and stepped closer to him; he smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulder sweetly.

As we walked through the trees I was sure I was hearing things. There was a snap and a growl and I froze on the spot.

"What was that?!" I asked Elijah.

"Nothing, probably just a bird in the trees," Elijah tried to assure me. It didn't work though, I heard more moving. My head whipped round to find where it was coming from I saw yellow eyes in the tree line, only they weren't the burning alluring yellow eyes that the Cullen's had, these were vicious, horrifying mucky yellow. I didn't let out a scream until the eyes moved and out came a large dog.

Elijah moved me behind him, colliding with the dog. It bit him on the arm and I heard him shout out in pain.

"Elijah!" I screamed and ran to him. He punched the dog and it whimpered slightly but stood back up and came straight for us. I shielded my friend, hugging him and closing my eyes tightly, waiting for the moment when the dog would attack us both but nothing happened. I looked up. The dog had stopped; it looked behind us for a moment before suddenly turning and running away. I turned behind me but didn't see anything. The dog was definitely looking at something but it wasn't there now. I turned back to my friend, Elijah had his teeth clenched and he was breathing through his nose quickly.

"Come on!" I gasped and pulled him onto his feet. He gripped his arm to his chest, I already knew it was badly wounded, the blood was everywhere.

We part walked, part ran to the edge of the park. I had no idea what the dog had been doing there to begin with, was its owner around? Why wasn't it on a leech?

"Oh my gosh are you okay?" someone asked running over to us, it was a stranger but if I had seen someone as bloody as Elijah id be worried too.

"A dog attacked him," I said shakily.

"I'll drive you to the hospital," the woman said.

"Thanks," I managed to smile; others came over too, making sure we were okay.

"I'm Eve," the woman said as we climbed into her car.

"I'm Clara, this is Elijah," I said, Elijah was still grunting and trying not to cry in pain.

We arrived in a few minutes, luckily the hospital wasn't far from us and I took Elijah's cell phone out his pocket to ring his mom.

"Dr Cullen!" someone called and my head whipped round. I had already phoned Elijah's mom and was now calling my own but I barely even heard her answer. I watched as a young blonde man came into the ER. He was pale, beautiful and I was sure I saw the light bounce off his eyes making them gold. What was with all these golden eyed pale people recently?! Was it my own paranoid delusions? Was I seeing things? Or did I really just meet eight vampires today?

"Clara?! Clara?" my mother's panicked voice brought my attention back to the phone I was holding. Elijah was now talking with Dr Cullen and ushered into a private room.

"Clara where are you?!" she called.

"Mom! I'm sorry, I'm at the hospital, Elijah was bitten by a dog on our way home. I didn't want to leave him," I told her, tears were in my eyes now. The weight of the situation fell on me. I knew Elijah would be okay, he wasn't going to die but he took that bite for me. The dog was coming for me.

"Oh my gosh sweetie. I'll be there as soon as I can," she said.

"Don't worry mom, I'll be home soon," I said.

"No, I'm coming to get you, you will be taking the car to and from school from now on, no arguments," she argued and hung up. I could drive but I chose not to. School and Elijah's house wasn't that far away and my mom was extremely aware of the environment, I had it drilled into me as a child that if my destination was within walking distance I shouldn't be driven there. She says I shouldn't be polluting the air any more than it already was. Most cities in America were covered in smog and you couldn't even see the sun set anymore, people had to watch it on screens put up around the city. We were lucky, Chicago wasn't as bad as others but it didn't mean I wanted to make it worse, I liked being able to see the sun in the sky. My mom normally promoted me walking to school every day but something had scared her, maybe it was the dog that bit Elijah or maybe it was something else but if my mom was ordering me to drive to school every day, it definitely meant she knew something I didn't.

After I hung up I went into the room that Elijah had been taken to. He was sitting on the side of a bed, his arm was being bandaged up.

"Hey Clar, look what I got!" he grinned. My heart wasn't racing anymore, we were safe in the hospital but I had never felt such an adrenaline rush before.

"What Eli?" I laughed slightly.

"The doc said it's likely to scar, I'm going to have a battle scar!" he said happily. I laughed off any tears that threatened to come at the sight of my best friend being mauled by a dog. He was such a dork.

"I can't believe you. You get nearly mauled to death by a dog and you're happy about it because you get a scar."

"Too right. There is a silver lining to everything," he grinned at me when I came to sit next to him.

"You're Clara? His friend?" the doctor asked me. I looked up to see I was right about his eyes, they were gold. I nodded with a small smile. "Well you were very lucky to have such a brave boy to protect you. I'm sure by the size of this bite if it had been on your arm it would have been far worse," he said to me.

"Yep that's me, Elijah, protector of the small," Elijah grinned and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders.

"I'm glad you're so happy about this Eli." I rolled my eyes but leant into him, I was glad he was okay more than anything.

"You're all done." Dr Cullen said with a smile just as Elijah's mom came into the room.

"Oh Elijah!" she gasped coming over.

"I'm okay mom, I saved Clara," he said proudly.

"I can't believe it! Where is that dog? Where was his owner?" she gasped.

"I'm going to have to go," I said and kissed Elijah's cheek. "My mom will be waiting outside. Glad you're okay Eli and thanks for saving me," I said to him, he smiled at me and I grabbed my bag and walked out the room. I took one last look at Dr Cullen and he just happened to be staring right back at me. I blushed and pulled my hair over my shoulder to hide my face as I ran to the exit of the hospital. My mom was just getting out of the car.

"Clara!" she called. I ran over to her and hugged her.

"I'm okay mom, I'm okay."

"I told you to come home before dark!" she said with wide panicked eyes.

"It's okay mom I know, I'm sorry, we lost track of time," I said and we got back into the car.

"Is Elijah okay?" she asked.

"Yes, it was a nasty bite but the doctor said it could have been worse," I edited the part out where he said if it had been me that was bitten.

"What was the dog like?" my mom asked as she drove us home. Sophie was in the back seat happily playing with one of her dolls.

"Scary mom, Elijah saved me. It had horrible yellow eyes," I said. I saw her hands tighten on the steering wheel but her eyes didn't move from the road.

"Oh dear," she gasped.

"He'll be fine momma," I assured her again.

"Yes. I suppose he will," she said with a frown.

When we arrived home we ate dinner in almost silence, my mom was in her own world, she barely spoke but it was clear her mind was racing. Sophie was telling me all about her first day at school when the phone rang. My mom shot up and answered it before going into the other room.

"shush a minute Soph," I told my sister and went to the living room door that my mom had closed behind her.

"We have to tell him don't we? Clara doesn't believe me, you'll have to meet her!" I heard my mom say to someone, there was a break before she spoke again. "The poor boy." She sobbed. "No it's not okay! That's my daughters best friend! You brought all this to my city!" she said and there was another pause. "Okay, just make sure Elijah goes with her," she said less panicky. I ran back to the kitchen and sat down to continue my dinner. Sophie was looking at me strange but she kept eating and didn't say anything about my eaves dropping. The living room door opened and my mom walked out.

"Everything okay?" I asked her.

"Perfect," she smiled. But I knew that smile. She was lying.

After dinner I went up to my room and watched TV by myself, I put my phone on charge and rang Elijah just before I went to sleep.

"How is my knight in shining armour?" I asked him as a joke.

"He's doing quite well princess, he's just glad you're okay," he humoured me. I giggled.

"Just making sure, I'll see you tomorrow Elijah," I said.

"Goodnight Clara."

"Night," I said and hung up. I fell asleep that night and yellow eyes plagued my nightmares.

The next morning I woke long before my alarm. I climbed out of bed and had a hot shower. My nightmares kept me up all night; they were a mix of the musky yellow eyes I had seen on the dog and the dazzling golden eyes of the Cullen's. I decided to leave early for school, since I was up anyway. My sister and mom were barely even awake when I strolled out the house. I was just about to get into my car when I saw Axton across the road. He looked angry.

"Axton?!" I asked, throwing my bag in my car and walking across the street.

"Oh hey Clara," he smiled. That smile sent butterflies off in my stomach.

"I didn't know you lived here," I said.

"Oh erm, yeah," he said and quickly closed his front door. I frowned but didn't question it. "Just moved here."

"Maybe we can car pool sometime," I smiled at him. Where had all this confidence come from? I normally ran and hid from boys, boys that weren't Elijah that was.

"I'm glad you said that. My car won't start," he said shyly.

"Oh well come with me then," I grinned, he smiled back, he was normally shy and conservative but his smile always told me otherwise, it was a smirk and it was like his confidence came out in his smile rather than his words. He followed me down to the road. I didn't know why I had offered him a ride, after all school was only a mile away, he could have easily walked but after last night I wasn't sure I wanted anyone walking out on their own, even Axton who seemed to be entirely capable of taking care of himself.

"Don't you need to tell your parents you're coming in my car?" I asked him.

"I don't have parents," he answered immediately.

"Oh I'm sorry," I frowned. "Whoever takes care of you then," I edited.

"My aunt… she leaves for work early and doesn't come back until late. She won't notice." He told me as we reached my car.

"Well jump in," I said and I sat in the driver's seat.

As we drove to school we sat in a comfortable silence, which was a nice change. It had me wondering about Axton's family, he said he had no parents and yesterday mentioned that he used to have a sister too. Did he lose them all? My heart ached for him at the thought, I knew the pain of losing a parent, I had lost my father but both parents and a sibling? I couldn't imagine my life without my mother and sister as well. I don't know how he could bear it.

"What's your first class?" I asked him when we arrived.

"History," he smiled.

"Oh me too!" I smiled back. I locked the car and we walked together to the school.

"I'm glad we're early. I was late yesterday. It was really embarrassing I didn't even go to history," he said.

"Oh neither did I," I laughed and led him to the library. He smiled when he realised where we were going.

"You skip classes a lot?" he grinned. I smiled back.

"Only when I'm drawing. I tend to forget where I am," I answered with a blush. The librarian let me in, I was a regular and I never caused trouble so she was happy to let me use the facility between my classes.

"I know what you mean," he smiled at me as we went over to our table.

"They need better lighting in here," he whispered to me as we sat down.

"Tell me about it." I laughed. "I've been here since freshman year and this is the only table I will sit at," I smiled, he smiled back and there was a few moments of not talking. Normally it would be awkward but we were just looking at each other and I couldn't bring myself to look away. He was mesmerising, every line of his face, the small stubble he had and his dark eyebrows.

"So Elijah… is he your boyfriend?" he asked me pulling out his notebook. I smiled at the fact he used paper and pencils. Not many people carried paper now, it was all electronic, all our school work was done on a tablet that was uploaded straight to the school database, all 'textbooks' were on tablets now, schools rarely used paper. The library had a wall of books but the rest was just tables and computers. I loved drawing though and whilst I was initially taught to draw on a tablet like everyone else my mom had bought me a sketch pad and pencils for Christmas one year. They were extremely expensive and I cherished them. I would much rather draw with pencils and feel the paper under my hands than draw on a tablet. The only paper around was for artwork and it was generally printed out anyway, only really old portraits were hand painted.

"No," I laughed too quickly in response to his question. I nearly choked on my laugh. I didn't know why I was so appalled hearing it from him, loads of people asked me that. I spent most of my time with Elijah and normally it didn't bother me if people thought he was my boyfriend because I knew he wasn't, but for some reason, Axton asking bothered me.

"Sorry for asking," he grinned back.

"Sorry, I just… no. He's not. He's my best friend. We've known each other since kindergarten," i told him.

"Never been there?" he asked rising one of his eyebrows. I looked at him through my eye lashes quickly before looking back down.

"Nope. I don't like him that way. Never have," I said.

"Good," he mumbled softly, I wasn't quite sure I heard it. I looked up at him through my lashes again and he was smiling sweetly at me. I blushed and dropped my head down again.

I didn't know why but I was suddenly extremely giddy.

Axton and I kept stealing glances during every lesson we had together. I wasn't sure what it meant but I couldn't stop looking at him. I tried to pay attention to Elijah instead. He was boasting about his arm, all our friends knew he protected me and took the wound for me. I was just glad he was happy and back to his ordinary self. The idea that the dog could have seriously wounding him frightened me to death.

It was the last period before lunch; I was putting my sketchpad in my locker when I felt someone lean on the locker next to mine. I closed it, hoping it was Elijah or Axton but it wasn't… it was Lewis. He was a bully, or more specifically he loved to bully me. I managed to avoid him most of the time but every now and then, when he hasn't tormented me in a while, he would purposely find me.

"I need you to do the biology assignment I have," he said.

"You're a senior, how am I supposed to do it?" I asked with a frown, he's never asked me to do his homework before but I definitely wasn't going to.

"You're smart, and you will make it good otherwise you'll make me look bad and we can't have that," he said with a smile, his teeth were slightly yellow, his hair greasy with hair gel pushed back from his head. He was disgusting to me and it took everything in me not to scrunch my face up in revulsion.

"I am not doing your homework," I told him straight and slammed my locker closed.

"Yes you are," he glared and grabbed my arm.

"Let go," I said trying to tug my arm out of his grasp, he was huge though, a jock and I was only tiny. I didn't have the strength to pull me arm free.

"Hey!" I heard a voice call as I tried to squirm out of his grasp, Lewis looked up behind me, but I didn't know who it was. It wasn't Elijah, and this person sounded angry. Lewis pushed me backwards and I fell against the lockers and onto the floor, I managed to catch myself with my right arm but I landed badly and sharp pain ran through my arm. I gasped and gripped my wrist. It was pulsing pain right through my body.

"Stay away from her!" I heard the person growl and suddenly he was in front of me. It was Axton. I could tell by his jet black hair and physique.

"Who are you? I thought she only had one boyfriend, the little guy," Lewis laughed.

"I'm deadly serious," Axton growled, there was something about him that had me in awe. He was truly threatening and I wished I could see his face but only Lewis could. Whatever Lewis saw had him backing off.

"Alright dude, I'll get someone else to do the assignment. Chill," Lewis laughed and walked away. Axton turned around to me, his face was neutral now and he knelt next to me.

"You okay?" he asked softly. I smiled up at him and nodded, even though it was a lie. I scanned the corridor to see kids that had watched the scene were now shuffling away. The only people that didn't were two of the Cullen's, Edward and Bella's siblings I assumed. It was the short pixie and the blonde guy. The guy looked like he was in serious pain; the pixie was pushing on his chest towards the door, soon the big Cullen and the blonde girl appeared, looking panicked and helping the pixie get the blonde out of the corridor. I frowned at them, he looked really angry, like he was trying to get to me. I shook the thought from my mind and turned from them back to Axton. He had been watching them too, he had an unreadable expression on his face.

"My wrist might be broken," I told him truthfully when he went to inspect it.

"Let's get you to the nurse," he said and held his hand out. I took it with my spare hand and he wrapped his arm around me in support.

"I haven't broken my leg," I laughed, he immediately dropped his arm.

"Right," he mumbled.

"It's okay though," I smiled and took a step back towards him as we walked down the corridor.

"Clara!" I heard a panicked call. It was Edward. I frowned when he reached us just outside the nurse's office. "Alice and Jasper said you hurt yourself," he said, truly concerned for me.

"Er I'm okay," I laughed. I hadn't really friended him or Bella, we spoke in biology but Edward was acting like I was his daughter after a deadly accident. "is Jasper okay?" I asked, remembering the look on his face earlier.

"Yeah he's fine, he was angry with the guy that hurt you," Edward said with a complete poker face, I wondered if he was lying though. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked looking down at the way I was holding my arm.

"She's hurt her wrist, I'm just taking her to the nurse," Axton answered for me.

"Can I see? I promise to be gentle." He said to me pleading, I didn't know why I trusted him. I just did. I nodded and let go of my arm so he could see. His hands were freezing cold and It took a moment for me to register this was a vampire trait but I let him continue. He was extremely gentle; he was feather light as he examined my wrist.

"Can you move your fingers?" he asked, I wiggled my pinkie for him.

"It's just sprained," he said with a satisfied smile.

"How do you know that?" I asked, he was supposed to be seventeen, how did he know the difference between a sprain and a break?

"My father is a doctor, even as a child I was curious about his work. He took me with him a lot of the time. I learnt a lot about the medical field. I could take you to him if you want. He'll help you," he explained with a warm smile. It was strange, his smile reminded me of my mother's smile after Sophie or I had hurt ourselves, it was warm and caring. Edward seemed far beyond his years.

"Is your father Dr Cullen?" I asked him.

"Yes," he smiled.

"I met him yesterday," I said. "He was really nice."

"Clara!" I heard Elijah's voice before Edward could answer; he was running down the corridor. I wanted to talk to Edward more but I knew Elijah would be fussing over me now; I wouldn't get to talk to him. Elijah ran up to me and hugged me; I flinched as my hand was jerked away from Edward. He had kept his hand around mine and it felt nice to have the cold around it. Now it was in the warm air and Elijah didn't seem aware of it at all.

"Her hand!" Axton called. Elijah pulled away and glared at Axton.

"Oh I'm sorry Clara. I heard that asshole Lewis hurt you. I just wanted to see you and check you were okay," he said in rant.

"I'm fine Elijah it's just a sprain." I told him.

"You're so clumsy," Elijah laughed, I shrugged.

"Yeah I have no idea who I get that from," I laughed, my mother was very graceful and from what I could remember so was my father. I hadn't even seen my sister fall yet, whereas by the time I was her age I had already broken a finger, sprained an ankle and had a concussion. Edward smiled at me, flashing his white teeth.

"It wasn't her fault, it was Lewis," Axton told him. Elijah looked up at him as if to say 'who even are you?'

"Elijah, you know my lab partner Axton, Axton this is Elijah my-" I went to say friend but Elijah cut me off.

"_Best_ friend," he emphasised.

"Come on, I think you need to go see the nurse to get your wrist sorted," Edward said, eyeing the boys carefully. He pushed both of them out of the way; they were still staring at each other. Edward wound his arm around me and pulled me to the door.

"Is she okay?" I heard a panicked voice. It was Bella.

"She's fine. It's a sprain," Edward consoled her.

"Oh good," she sighed, she smiled at me like a mother to her child. I was starting to see more into their smiles than I should. Edward led me into the nurse's office and Bella, Axton and Elijah followed.

"What can I do for you all?" the nurse asked.

"Lewis Denral pushed her, I think her wrist is sprained," Edward said and I walked over to the nurse.

"Did it really need all of you to bring her here?" the nurse asked, seeing my entourage.

"No, we…" Elijah started to explain.

"One of you can stay with her, the rest should get to class," the nurse said.

"I'll stay," Elijah said immediately.

"Were any of you with her when it happened?" the nurse asked.

"I was," Axton said quietly.

"Then you stay, I need to know the details so I can record the incident, the rest go," she said as she examined it. Elijah looked pissed, really pissed.

"Fine. I'll see you at lunch Clara," Elijah said and left the room. Edward and Bella left slowly, they smiled at me once more before leaving me alone with Axton and the nurse.

* * *

**Next chapter will be in Edward's POV so you can get an idea of their side of the story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Edward Cullen**

Bella and I left the nurses office but didn't go to class; we remained outside so we could hear what was going on. I felt protective of Clara, she was my great-great-great-great-great granddaughter, it didn't matter how many greats were in front of granddaughter; she was my flesh and blood and the fact someone had hurt her like that infuriated me.

"Edward we need to check on Jasper," Bella whispered to me.

"Alice took him home, I told her to take him away for a while to help him clear his head," I replied, I didn't want to leave Clara, she might have to be taken to Carlisle.

"What's going to happen? I mean I know you managed it with me but Jasper doesn't have your control," Bella was speaking in her 'concerned voice' she had adopted it after the birth of Renesmee; it was the mother in her concerned for Clara. I shrugged. Clara was Jasper's singer. He hadn't been close enough to her to realise until an hour ago when they were in the same corridor together. It had taken Alice, Emmett and Rose to get him away from her, I had hoped Clara didn't see it all but she had and she worried for Jasper. She reminded me so much of human Bella, clumsy, observant and selfless.

"He might have to drop out of school, I don't know. After recent events we have to tell Clara about us so she might be around a lot. I'll help him control it, like I did with Renesmee," I said to her and wrapped my arm around her waist. She was worrying and I didn't blame her, there was so much going on.

"When are we going to tell Clara?" she asked me softly.

"If she has to go see Carlisle I think we should tell her then, get Elijah to come with her instead of Axton and tell them both."

"They both like her don't they?" she asked.

"Elijah, yes, I don't know about Axton, as far as I can tell he's protective over her and seems to like her but since I can't read his mind I'm not sure about his true intentions."

"'His true intentions'," Bella laughed. "You're such a dad," she nudged me. I grinned down at her and shrugged.

"She's our flesh and blood Bella. I love her like a granddaughter."

"I know you do," she whispered softly just as the door of the nurses office opened, Bella and I moved quickly, we hid behind the wall of the corridor so no one saw us.

"Are you going to class?" I heard Axton ask Clara.

"Not now, there is only ten minutes left. We could go to the library," she said.

"Don't you want to go home?" Axton asked.

"You won't have a ride home if I do."

"I'll come with you," he answered and I could see in Clara's mind that he was smiling at her, she felt something for the boy and I wished I could read his mind to make sure he really liked her too.

_Edward_. Bella thought urgently. I looked over to her as if to say '_I know I know'_ Bella had become extremely good at reading my facial expressions over the decades together, we could almost have a full conversation without even talking now. Bella was panicking because we needed to get Clara alone with Elijah so we could tell them the truth but it didn't seem like Axton wanted to leave her alone.

I inclined my head towards the school exit and she sighed but nodded in agreement. We weren't going to get Clara on her own today; we'd have to try tomorrow. In the mean time we had a lot of other things to deal with. We passed by reception.

"Hi, Bella isn't feeling too well. I'm just going to take her home, is that okay?" I asked the young girl behind the desk, she was attracted to me so it wasn't hard to get her to agree.

"Oh of course Edward." She smiled, trying to be sexy. I just turned and wrapped my arms around my wife and walked out the door, not saying another word.

Bella and I reached the car and I could see Bella was particularly quiet, I leant over and reached for her chin, pulling it towards me and kissing her passionately in the car. She giggled as she pulled away, sooner than I originally planned.

"It's okay, I'm used to it," she winked. She was talking about the girl that was trying to hit on me but she knew I only loved her. "She knows we're 'dating', it just annoys me that she'd do it in front of me," she added. I kissed her quickly one last time.

"It doesn't matter," I told her, taking her hand and putting the car into drive. We raced home and I didn't let go of Bella's hand once. I knew she was worried about other things; it wasn't really the girl in the reception. Jasper had met his singer and it just so happened to be our granddaughter.

We arrived home and entered the house quickly.

"Where is Jasper?" I asked Esme who had come to greet us.

"With Alice, they're packing. I can't believe she's his singer," Esme said sadly. Bella hugged Esme.

"It will be okay," she assured her.

"I'm going to talk to him," I said and took the stairs two at a time to reach Alice and Jasper's room. I knocked slightly.

"Come in Edward," Alice said. I saw her throwing clothes in a bag and getting money and other essentials, Jasper was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands and he wasn't breathing. I sat next to my brother and put my arm around his shoulders. He wasn't really thinking, he was just concentrating on clearing his mind.

"You need to breathe Jasper," I told him, he shook his head. "Her scent is gone. You can't go the rest of your life not breathing just because you met your singer. You need to get through it." I coaxed him. He sighed and took in a breath. He relaxed immediately when he realised the air was clean from Clara's scent.

"I can still smell her on you," he sighed.

"Sorry," I mentioned. "But this is good practice." I told him, I've only touched Clara once so I only had a linger of her scent on me. He nodded, it wasn't bad for him, he could breathe in the air and be okay.

"You'll be ok Jaz," I tried to assure him.

"How did you even bear it?" he whispered.

"I loved Bella that's how I got through it and so will you, Clara is your descendant. You don't want to hurt her so you won't," I told him confidently.

"Of course I don't but I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself. I've never felt that kind of pull before, ever in my life," he almost wept.

"I know," I sighed.

"Edward!" I heard Carlisle call. I left Jasper with Alice and went down stairs to see Carlisle coming into the house. "Did you tell Clara?" he asked.

"No not yet." I sighed. "She sprained her wrist and went home with a boy. I couldn't get her alone without raising suspicion," I told him.

"Elijah needs to be told, we need to prepare him for the next full moon."

"I know," I sighed. The poor boy had been bitten by a werewolf, a true child of the moon not a shape shifter. He would turn on the full moon and not know anything about it. He was Clara's best friend and we had to help him. We couldn't let him join the pack that was in the city. He would be drawn to them but I didn't want Clara's best friend to become our enemy.

"It's important Edward. Zio wants to use the boy as a spy and if he gets to him before us I don't know what's going to happen."

"He what?" Bella nearly screeched. "He's a boy! We're not putting him in danger like that."

"It's Zio… he thinks like that," Jasper said coming down the stairs with Alice.

"Yeah it's something _you_ would do, like father like son," Alice said wrapping her arm around Jasper.

"He is not using a sixteen year old boy as a spy for the Volturi; I don't give a crap who Zio is. Elijah is under our protection," Bella growled.

"I know Bella." Carlisle sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder. "We'll talk to him, he'll understand."

"Zio or Elijah?" Bella asked.

"Zio. He may be the most powerful man in the world but he's still my grandson and still a part of this family. He's just thinking about the war Bella. We can't fight the wolves, they're innocent human beings and whoever is controlling them knows that. Zio is between a rock and a hard place, let the wolves win or murder innocents and ruin his reputation."

"I know, he's under a lot of stress," Bella sighed. "But I will fight for Clara and Elijah to stay out of this. This isn't their war. They're innocent and they're children."

"They need to be told about it though; they need to be aware of the dangers so they stay safe. Madeleine is already angry at us. She thinks we brought the war here. I need to talk to her, we need to explain or they might get hurt," Carlisle said sadly.

"Then let's just go to her house. Explain everything together,"

"We'll do it tomorrow Bella; we'll find her at school and bring her home. We need to make sure no one over hears." I assured her. She looked at me for a moment and chewed on her lip before nodding.

"Okay," she sighed. I pulled her into my chest and she hugged me back. We separated for a moment from our family, Alice and Jasper were getting ready to leave and Carlisle and Esme went to speak alone in his study.

_I miss our children._ Bella sighed in her head. I kissed her forehead.

"I know," I whispered back just as my cell phone rang. I looked at it to see Renesmee's name on the caller ID. I smiled and showed it to Bella.

"I think she's clairvoyant," I laughed and answered. "Good afternoon Renesmee."

"Hey daddy," she answered happily. Bella instantly smiled.

"Is everything okay?" I asked her, my arms still wrapped around my wife.

"I thought you might have been in school, you're not using your phone in class are you father? I was sure I raised you better than that," she laughed.

"No, your mother and I are home," I laughed with her.

"I'm glad, I just wanted to hear your voice," she said softly.

"We miss you too."

"Jacob and I might come up there soon before we move back to La Push for a while."

"No Renesmee," Bella said urgently.

"Why?" Nessie asked.

"It's too dangerous here, I know you want to come see us and Chantelle but there's a war starting and I don't want you caught in the middle of it."

"I'll be fine momma," Renesmee sighed; I could almost hear her rolling her eyes at her mother's words.

"Please, just wait a few months until we have this under better control. We already have people to protect; I can't be worrying about you too."

"Who?" Nessie asked.

"Your great-great-great-great-granddaughter," I answered. "Her name is Clara; she's somehow weaved herself into the supernatural world and she's only human."

"Sounds like mom," Nessie laughed. I smiled down at Bella.

"It does," I smirked at her.

"Okay I understand. Keep her safe," Nessie said softly.

"We love you Nessie," I said just to make a point; I didn't want her thinking we were choosing Clara over her.

"Love you too," she laughed. "I'll call you tomorrow," she said and I heard her giggling, clearly distracted.

"Jacob seriously?" Bella asked loudly. I heard Jacob laughing.

"Bye Bells" he laughed down the phone before it hung up. I was smiling at Bella who was shaking her head.

"They're like teenagers"

"And we're not?" I laughed kissing her jaw and neck.

"It's the middle of the day!" I heard Emmett shouting. I groaned, I was going to take Bella upstairs but there was no point now. We entered the hall living area.

"Aren't you meant to be at school?" I frowned.

"Aren't you?" he asked. "What will the teachers say when they see you two ditched class to make out?" he asked.

"I think they had a little more planned than making out," Zac laughed, he dropped his tablet on the coffee table. As a teacher he probably had a tonne of work or something to mark.

"You came home too?" Bella asked, ignoring his comment about our sex life.

"It's two thirty bells, end of the school day," he said to her putting his feet up. Esme slapped his legs as she walked past us all and he dropped them to the floor. He turned the TV on and it was on the sports channel already. Zac and Emmett's favourite. Emmett slouched down next to Zac and they started talking about the game. Bella was wrapped around my side; I was half paying attention to her, half to my brothers watching the game.

"Bella!" Rose said coming into the room and grabbing my wife's wrist. I stood there as Rose pulled Bella out of the room; Bella looked back at me for a moment before following her sister out.

"We're leaving!" I heard Alice call through the house just as I sat down next to Emmett. I was on my feet again in moments and in the front hall where Jasper and Alice were with Esme, Rose and Bella.

"We'll be back soon, we promise. We won't leave Zio that long anyway," Alice was reassuring Esme.

"You'll be okay," I told Jasper who looked extremely down. I could see it in his mind, he was wondering how he would get through this, he thought he had ruined our plans to go to school together like old times.

_I'm glad _you_ have confidence in me_. He thought, I smiled at him and hugged him.

"I'll give you a crash course on singers as soon as you get back," I told him with a pat on his back.

"We'll call you as soon as we reach the Denali's," Alice said, hugging us all.

It was moments before they were gone and we were down two family members. It seemed like there was always something in the way of us being a whole family again.

"Oh my god Zac, you're worse than Jacob," I heard Rose moan. Bella and I had stayed in the hall for a moment after Jasper and Alice left. We made our way into the living room to see Zac lounged across the couch, taking up as much room as he could. Zac was playing a video game and straining his neck to look around Rosalie who was standing in the way of his vision. "Move!" she barked at him.

"You move!" he yelled back.

"Zachary, let your sister sit down," Esme said entering the house. Rose stuck her tongue out at Zac and he sighed, moving his legs to let her sit down, he rested them back on the coffee table. Esme slapped his legs for the second time. To say Zac had settled in our family was an understatement. At the beginning of his life he was a childhood friend to my daughter but I saw him as my brother just as much as Emmett and Jasper. Time had made him lonely, and whilst he was still friends with my daughter they moved around a lot seeing their children and going on second honeymoons. Zac felt more comfortable with us than being Renesmee's third wheel. They still saw each other often but Zac was the latest in our core coven. He had no one, his human wife and children were dead and we were his only family now. He had grandchildren but he wanted to keep them out of our world and supported them anonymously like Carlisle supported my descendants.

"We need recliners, who doesn't have recliners this far into the future I mean seriously?" Zac exclaimed.

"You need a wife Zac. You're such a man," Rose sighed, crossing her legs and resting her tablet on her lap, flicking through a magazine probably.

"Go find me one then," Zac said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Maybe I will!" Rose argued back.

"Dude no you can't move out. Without Jacob or Zio here you're my best competition," Emmett said with wide eyes, also on the games console.

"I'm not going anywhere Em." Zac replied. "Come on Ed get the other controller!" Zac called out.

"Don't call me that it gets confusing," I groaned as Bella and I sat down together in the arm chair.

"Well when Eddie or Teddy isn't here you're the only Edward around so you know I mean you," he grinned cockily.

"You know, you wouldn't guess you're a teacher Zac. You're so immature." Rose chimed in.

"It's an act, didn't you know?" Bella asked. "Zac is too much like Eddie and Jacob. They're mature when they have to be but most of the time they're children."

"That's true," Rose said with a nod of her head. Zac scoffed.

"I was a married man with kids and I have a job. I am mature!" he defended himself.

"Let's be real, so is Eddie and Jacob but if them two are alone in the same room they're like a pair of girls," I told him. Bella and Rose burst into laughter.

"I'm telling them that" Zac said to me with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Go ahead," I grinned at him.

"Your son is stronger than you now, I don't know why you're so smug," Zac said.

"Eddie doesn't stand a chance against me," I said to him although I didn't actually believe it myself, my son was a special kind of vampire, one that got stronger with age and Eddie was coming up to one hundred and thirty.

Bella and I stayed downstairs with our family for most of the night. Carlisle and Esme joined us but it didn't feel the same without Jasper and Alice.

The next day the sun was extremely bright and it shone through the smog easily enough to make us sparkle.

"Edward," Bella sighed as she stood at our bedroom window.

"I know," I sighed and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"We still have to go," she said.

"We can't," I whispered.

"We can sneak into the library at lunch," she told me turning in my arms to face me, she was worried and I didn't blame her. We had managed to talk Zio out of using Elijah as a spy but I understood my nephew's frustration. He needed the upper hand on this before it became a war. It was like nothing we'd encountered before. The wolves were immune to our abilities and we couldn't track or find the person controlling them. Whoever it was had purposely placed the wolves in the city, they had brought someone over from Italy, where there was a perfectly controlled wolf population and spread the species into Chicago where the Volturi now resided being run by my nephew Pancrazio, the hybrid son of Aro, his son Matthew and grandson Benjamin. We knew that the wolves were being controlled because there weren't any deaths. The last time we encountered the children of the moon they were tearing themselves through entire villages throughout Italy, one day a month when the moon was full there would be slaughters but the next day the people didn't remember what they had done. The Volturi part of our family had tracked down every wolf and used my niece Chantelle's ability to control them. She forbid them to murder as a wolf and they had to obey her. The wolves were animals and they had no sense of their human's selves so we knew that the wolves in Chicago were being controlled by someone far more powerful than Chantelle, they had managed to give them immunity to our abilities, and even Chantelle couldn't control them here. Werewolves didn't travel in packs either, the wolves in Italy had been scattered and random killings, the wolves here had been together, as if they had an alpha commanding them.

This scared Zio and the rest of the Volturi leaders, it was clear someone was controlling them and after the attack on Clara and Elijah, Zio was even more wary. I had seen the attack in Elijah's head, that wolf had been going for Clara, it was like the wolf was completely aware of what was happening and it was following out orders, to bite a Cullen, someone everyone in our world knew were protected.

"Zio wants us at the mansion in ten," Zac told us as Bella and I made our way down the stairs to our family.

"Why?" Bella asked.

"He didn't say," Zac said and pulled on shoes. Carlisle, Esme, Emmet, Rose, Zac, Bella and I were all ready and running to the Volturi mansion in silence. It was the middle of the day which meant we had to put on the Volturi robes as we entered the headquarters my nephew worked from. Ariella greeted us first and handed out the robes before we made our way through the large ball/throne room to the conference rooms where our family was waiting for us. At the head of the table was the three leaders with their wives as well as Lizzy, Ariella went to stand with Lizzy and we all walked around the table so we were almost in a circle. I noticed most importantly Allesandra and Jonathan were here. They were never brought into Volturi business so I wondered what was going on. I was trying to keep up with everyone's mind, piecing together the story before they told us.

"What's going on?" Carlisle asked.

"We know who is controlling the wolves." Zio announced, "And Jonathan is here because he has information we need."

"Who?" Bella asked but I already knew the answer. I hadn't known Jonathan long; he was new to the guard, only joining last year after he met Allesandra. Bella and I had only moved to Chicago a month ago. After our daughters grew up, we stayed on Isle Isabella for a while together but it started to feel lonely, we had spent years with our youngest two daughters and being there without them, it felt empty. We decided to come back to America and live with our siblings again. Alice mentioned she wanted to go to a high school again and what better way to fill our day with a favourite old pass time? Bella was intrigued with the idea of joining the same high school as one of our descendants, just to see how they were and what they were like. We had a few descendants in the Chicago area but only one in high school. Clara had known who we were the second she saw us but at the same time didn't believe it.

"Who is controlling the wolves?" Carlisle asked for clarification.

"Quite possibly the most powerful witch that's ever existed… Liana."

* * *

**I promise that Clara will find out about them next chapter! Hope this gave you a small insight into what is actually going on, there is still a lot more that the Cullen's don't know but I will switch to Edward's pov a few times in this story. Well done to those that guessed about Elijah and Clara being Jasper's singer!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Clara Cullen-Taylor**

"There once was a man, he was powerful and cruel. He was a leader of a vampire coven called the Volturi in Italy, he had two other leaders that helped him but everyone knew he was the main spokesman. There was something this man wanted more than anything in the world. Power and he wouldn't stop to get it. He also wanted descendants, an endless line of cruel leaders just like himself. After the war with the Cullen's Aro and the entire Volturi was wiped out… all but one little boy that the Cullen's were too compassionate to kill. This little boy was innocent, he didn't choose his family, he didn't choose his upbringing and so the Cullen's took him in as their own and they raised him as a Cullen rather than Aro's son."

"And he married Chantelle Cullen! And they had babies and they now lead the Volturi together!" Sophie said excitedly.

"Sophie you have to let me finish the story," I rolled my eyes. I was sitting on the couch with my little sister curled into my side. It was nearly her bed time and since my mom ordered for me to stay on the couch with my sprained wrist Sophie had come down stairs for a story.

"You always drag them out," she giggled. I smile down at her just as the doorbell went. I frowned, who could it be at this time?

"I'll get it!" Sophie shouted and shot up before I could tell her no.

"Who are you?" I heard her ask, I stood up from the couch in case it was a stranger.

"I'm Axton, can I see your sister?" I heard Axton answer. I sat back down immediately. I knew it wasn't a stranger and Axton wouldn't hurt my sister.

Was it strange that I trusted him with my life, and more importantly my sister's life after just a few days of knowing him? Probably.

"Come in…. Clara! Is he your boyfriend?" she called coming into the living room with Axton following her.

"Sophie," I rolled my eyes. Axton smiled at me from the door. I saw my mom come in after.

"Hey," he grinned coming to sit at my side. My mom eyed me warily as if I had to explain.

"Mom this is Axton, he lives across the road. He is a friend." I explained.

"Axton, this is my mom."

"Hello Mrs Taylor," he said politely.

"You can call me Madeleine Axton, it's nice to meet you," she said and held out her hand. He shook it and smiled at her.

"My name is Sophie," Sophie said sitting down in between me and Axton. I laughed.

"Go to bed Sophie," I told her and gently pushed her off the couch. She frowned at me and I just laughed.

"Come on Soph, time for bed. Let Clara and her friend talk," my mom said and lifted Sophie into her arms.

"Night night Clara. Night night Axton," she said softly and waved at us. I waved back at my baby sister as my mom carried her out of the room.

"She's cute," Axton smiled at me.

"Yeah, she is." I grinned, he smiled softly but there was something hidden behind his smile.

"Do you miss your sister?" I asked him, I had never asked him about his sister, he only mentioned her once and I was scared to bring it up again.

"More than anything in the world," he said.

"What was her name?" I asked, at first I thought I went too far, his face flickered and he looked like he was in pain.

"Alena," he said softly and pulled out his phone, he showed me a picture of a girl, she looked about sixteen and she was beautiful.

"Was she your younger sister?" I asked him.

"By three minutes," he answered and took his phone back. They were twins, no wonder he was so sad when he spoke about her.

"What happened to her?" I asked, I definitely went too far then, his face dropped, all emotion gone.

"There's quite an age difference between you and Sophie. Do you have the same dad?" he asked me, changing the subject.

"Yes we do. I wanted a baby sister for my 10th birthday. Sophie was born 9 months later. My dad died when she was a baby," I said sadly.

"I'm sorry," he frowned.

"Let's change the subject," I laughed trying to lighten the mood. "why-?" I began to ask.

"Why am I here?" he laughed. I smiled back for a moment and nodded. He shrugged, suddenly nervous. "Do you mind me being here?" he asked.

"No!" I said quickly, my hand reached out involuntary to rest on his. "I'm just shocked you are that's all," I said I could feel the blush rising to my cheeks, he smiled crookedly at me.

"I don't have anyone to talk to at home, I thought I'd come check you were okay and offer you a ride tomorrow to school since you can't drive," he said with a wink.

"Thank you," I said.

Axton stayed over for another hour at least, I didn't even realise how fast the time went as we talked. We spoke about various things, not just school. He avoided his home life as much as possible so I didn't push the subject. I knew he lived with his aunt Caroline who was his mother's identical twin sister. He didn't tell me what happened to his parents just that his aunt took him in as a child and she's been like a mother to him ever since. After a few hours my mom said that Axton had to leave and he promised to pick me up early so we could go to the library early. I fell asleep with a huge smile on my face, the last thought I had before I fell asleep was that I forgot to call Elijah.

"Clara wake up, Axton is outside waiting for you!" my mom's voice called through my bedroom door. My eyes snapped open and I saw seven thirty am on my clock. I had completely slept through my alarm! I shot out of bed, regretting it immediately as pain shot through my wrist. I dressed, washed my face and brushed my teeth quickly before grabbing my bag and taking the steps two at a time down stairs.

"Slow down Clara," my mom said at the door. She held out a banana for me. She knew better than to argue with me about breakfast. She knew I liked to be at school early.

"Thanks momma, see you later."

"I'll come pick you and Elijah up, don't walk home," she told me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"You'll see," she smiled slightly and opened the door.

"What do you mean mom?" I asked her but Axton pulled my attention by calling my name. I couldn't help but smile back.

"You'll be leaving school at lunch time today, don't worry I've already talked to Elijah's mom about it," my mom said and closed the door. What on earth was she talking about? I was quickly distracted by Axton coming and taking my bag off me.

"Thanks," I giggled at his gentlemanly behaviour and we walked to his car. It was working today which I was glad about because I couldn't drive with my wrist.

As soon as I saw Elijah at school I asked him about what was happening and he too had no idea what was supposed to be happening at lunch. I wondered about it all morning, going to and from my class in a blur.

"Is something wrong?" Axton asked in between classes, we'd just had one together where I barely paid attention at all.

"Not at all. I'm going to head to the library. Meet me there?" I asked him with a smile.

"Sure you don't want lunch first?" he asked.

"No, I'm not hungry. See you in a bit," I smiled at him and we went separate ways, he went to the cafeteria and I went straight to the library. I knew I'd have to find Elijah and find out exactly where we were supposed to be going but at the same time if I was supposed to be going somewhere wouldn't my mom come find me? Or Elijah's mom?

I sat down on my usual table in the library. I had just pulled out my sketch book when I heard a voice.

"Hello," I heard someone say, I looked up from my drawing book to see Bella smiling at me.

"Er hi, do you want me to move?" I asked, the library was empty so I don't know why she wanted my seat, I hadn't had much interaction with her and she seemed like one of them popular girls that just wanted to make people bend to her will. I had noticed though that not one of the Cullen's was in school this morning.

"Oh no, I came to introduce myself properly, I know we've met but I don't even know your surname. There's always been someone around and I'd like to be your friend." she smiled at me again, it was almost painful to look at her this close, she was so pretty.

"Well hi," I managed to smile slightly.

"I'm Bella Cullen," she said and offered me her hand. I already knew her name but introduced myself anyway.

"Clara Taylor," I introduced myself, she frowned slightly but hid it well as she took my hand. Her hand was freezing.

"Are you cold?" I asked bluntly.

"No I'm fine, I just have bad blood circulation," she said with a smirk, like she was hiding something. "Can I?" she asked and motioned for the seat next to me.

"Sure," I mumbled and shuffled my stuff away, I had no idea why she wanted to be my friend, she and Edward were very strange to me.

"You're really good!" she exclaimed looking at my drawings. I quickly closed my book, I had been drawing Alice without realising; she fascinated me the most out of the Cullen's. I wondered if she noticed, probably not, I'd drawn wings on her.

"Er thanks," I mumbled, she was just trying to be nice but I didn't understand why. We sat in silence for a few seconds before Edward came in. Bella smiled widely at him and motioned for him to come over.

"Hello Clara," he greeted me sweetly. I smiled at him, he had cared for me when I hurt my arm and I won't ever forget how gentle he had been with me.

"So you know Edward, my boyfriend," Bella said softly.

"Boyfriend? You're not siblings?" I asked. I couldn't help myself I had been dying to ask them.

"Adopted," he responded and sat next to Bella.

"So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Bella asked me.

"Sister, shes five," I told her. "I have four cousins that are like my siblings though."

"Your family are close?"

"They always have been as far as I'm aware. My mom lived by all her cousins and her dad before her. Supposedly I'm descended from some legendary family. I don't believe it at all though," I told them, why was I getting into my weird family? Part of me wanted to test if they were related; if they were they had the same weird family. Maybe they were my distant cousins or something, I refused to believe they were the vampire part of my family but they might have been told the same legends as me growing up.

"Oh really?" Bella laughed. I frowned slightly, why was it funny?

"So your family has legends?" Edward asked. Both he and Bella were smiling like they knew something I didn't.

"Yeah, they're all really stupid though, you wouldn't believe them," I told them.

"Oh you never know," Edward said to me with a smile. His smile made me realise how attractive he was, like really attractive. Edward's smile dropped as if he had heard my thoughts and didn't want to encourage me. Heh he had nothing to worry about, I wouldn't be going after him when he was dating someone as beautiful as Bella. I had no chance plus he was probably related to me anyway.

"So who is that guy I always see you with? Not Axton the other one, Elijah is it?" Edward asked.

"Er, Elijah, yeah, he's my best friend," I said, why were they so interested in my life? "So if you're adopted do you stay in the same house?" I asked, there goes my involuntary mouth, sometimes I just couldn't help but say things I shouldn't.

"Yes," Bella answered.

"Like together? Your parents let you?" I asked.

"Well Carlisle has rules, but Edward and I have been together for a long time," she said, there seemed to be a hidden meaning.

"Carlisle?" I frowned. _Carlisle Cullen?_ Are they serious? Was this a prank that Elijah was pulling? Getting someone to pretend to be my vampire relatives?

"Yes Carlisle, he's our father," Edward said smiling at me again. He needed to stop smiling, the second I thought it his smile dropped instantly. I stared into his eyes longer than I should have, they were really gold, not just a light brown, gold, his skin was flawless and incredibly pale. He was beautiful and yet there was an aura about him that screamed 'danger'.

"How old are you?" I suddenly blurted.

"seventeen," Edward told me but there was a smirk and something hidden behind his words. "But I feel like ive been seventeen for two hundred and twenty eight years," he added. Two hundred and twenty eight years? Why such a precise number? I decided to count back, two hundred and twenty eight years…. that was 1918. The year Carlisle Cullen turned the first member of his coven, the boy that was only seventeen. That was something I didn't tell Elijah… that was something my OCD mind remembered out of the obsession I had for the legends I didn't even believe in. I looked to Bella and It shocked me how much of my mom I saw in her. I jumped up.

"I have to go," I said quickly. This couldn't be happening, it wasn't true! Vampire didn't exist, shape shifters and human vampire hybrids!

"You have really fast mental arithmetic," Edward commented as I quickly grabbed my things. I ignored him and walked towards the door of the library.

"Clara!" Edward exclaimed as I went to the door. "Clara stop," he said, his hand was on my wrist. He had moved so fast. His golden eyes bore into mine.

"You're not real," I told him.

"We are, let me talk to you."

"What are you like my great great great great times twenty grandfather?" I asked him, it sounded so unbelievably stupid saying it out loud, the boy holding my wrist looked barely older than seventeen. Seventeen. That number again. But he couldn't be who I thought he was. He just _couldn't._

"My name is Edward Cullen, my wife is Isabella and our children are Renesmee, Edward, Alexandra and Elizabeth. You are descended from my hybrid daughter Renesmee, and her son William Black. Your great grandmother is my great great granddaughter," he told me. I shook my head. No way. "You haven't noticed the similarities between yourself and Bella?" he asked, I looked back at Bella sitting at the table watching us.

"She had your brown eyes, just like Renesmee, William, Phoebe and every daughter born after her." He explained. "Your hair, your mannerisms they're the same I would almost say you were Bella reincarnate," he laughed.

I stared at Bella as he spoke and he was right, I saw myself in her. Distantly, but I did. My eyes, my mother's eyes and my grandmothers.

"I need time to think," I answered, my voice shaking. I was in a room with two vampires and I had just had it confirmed to me they were related. My great something grandparents.

"Clara we would never hurt you," Edward said kindly and dropped his grasp from my wrist.

"I know," I answered, his yellow eyes proved that, all the stories I had told my little sister were true, the yellow eyed and the red eyed vampires, the good and the bad but my mind was on overload. I just needed to get out of here and breathe some fresh air. I ran to the front of the school and sat on the steps. Breathing in the fresh air, I thought about what Edward had said to me.

I was descended from them… did they just happen to pick this town or did they come here purposely? Bella seemed happy to meet me and I could even see myself being friends with her but did she just view me as a child in comparison? I was technically her great something granddaughter.

Why the hell was I thinking about befriending a vampire?!

I shook my hair so it covered my face and put my face in my hands. I closed my eyes tightly trying to wake up from this crazy dream I was having.

If I was descended from their daughter who was half human half vampire did that make me part vampire too? The idea freaked me out but the more I thought about it the more I worried. I knew they'd know. If I went to find them again. I had loads of questions, wouldn't it be best just to get the answers and then decide if I actually wanted to know these people that were my distant family?

I walked back into the library to see Edward and Bella were still there, they were sitting at the table I was on, and they looked up the second I walked in the room. I took a deep breath and walked over to them, Bella smiled warmly at me. I don't know what it was about her but I felt oddly drawn to her, like she would be my best friend and protect me to the ends of the earth.

"We all would Clara," Edward told me, I frowned. How the hell did he know what I was thinking? He seemed to know what I was thinking earlier too. "I can read minds, both myself and my son have the ability to read current thoughts of anyone, anyone other than Bella," he said with a smile to Bella at his side.

"I can let him if I want though," she said then winked towards me, I involuntary smiled, they were cute together, it made me wonder how long they had been together and if they were always this perfect.

"We've been married one hundred and forty years," Edward answered my thoughts. Wow.

"I have some questions," I said and sat down at the table.

"Shh!" the librarian hissed.

"Maybe we should take this outside, we need to find Elijah too," Edward suggested and stood up from his chair, he held his hand out for Bella and she took it before standing up. They were so timeless, it seemed like they were straight out of the 1800s. I stood up quickly and started to lead the way out of the library, I was just about to ask why they wanted to talk to Elijah when he ran into me in the hall, he seemed to be running in the direction of the library.

"Where have you been? Aren't we supposed to be going somewhere?" he exclaimed then caught the sight of Edward and Bella at my side. "Er hi, im Elijah," he said.

"Edward Cullen, this is my wife Bella," he told him. Elijah's eyes widened, as did mine. He was going around telling people they were married now? I thought they were trying to pass off as teenagers. Edward smiled at me.

"He already knows what we are. Your stories have told him enough about us… Yes I'm the Cullen that married a human and had a hybrid daughter, you know I wish you'd have told him our names, Renesmee wouldn't like being called 'the hybrid' all the time," Edward said with a chuckle.

Renesmee? What a beautiful name. I hadn't caught onto it earlier when Edward listed his children, I was too busy freaking out over the fact I was talking to a vampire.

"Renesmee, Edward, Alexandra and Elizabeth," he told me again.

"Or Nessie, Eddie, Lexi and Beth," Bella laughed. "They barely ever get called their full names, only Renesmee and Elizabeth."

"I don't remember the stories saying you had four children," I frowned.

"Edward and I recently had Beth and we adopted Lexi, she is the only human but she is no less our daughter than Nessie or Beth," Bella told me. So the others were all their biological children?

"Let's go talk outside," Edward urged me when I saw people giving Edward and Bella lingering looks.

"So I was right?" Elijah hissed as he followed us out. "They're related to you, you're all Cullen's?" he asked.

"Yes," I told him.

"And they're vampires!" he squealed.

"Shhh!" I hissed at him and pushed him to walk faster. Edward was chuckling behind me.

"You two remind me of Bella and Jacob," he told me, who was Jacob?

"Your mind is very protective over Clara," he added looking to Elijah.

"She's my best friend," he announced proudly as we reached the parking lot.

"And Jacob is my best friend," Bella clarified for me, she must be able to tell how overwhelming this was for me. We continued walking away from the school and I frowned slightly.

"Aren't we going to get in trouble?" I asked.

"We've already arranged this little meeting with your mothers." He answered. I didn't mean that, I meant just walking out of school with no question from anyone around us. Edward raised his eyebrows at my thoughts. "You have a lot to learn about your family little one," he laughed. "Ever wonder where all the money comes from? You know your mother doesn't work, your father is no longer with you and you live in a rather large house and you always get what you want," he told me, I frowned. He was right. "It comes from Carlisle, Carlisle supports all of our family including the countless descendants my children and niece have produced to make sure they are completely financially stable."

"Niece?" I asked with a frown.

"Your stories don't tell you of Chantelle?" he asked. I gasped.

"The Volturi. She married the leader's son and they had a son that leads it with him now," I gasped.

"Indeed, they're Cullen's too," he told me.

"I am so confused," Elijah moaned.

"We're nearly at our house; would you both like to come in?" Edward asked. Elijah looked at me warily.

"They wouldn't hurt us," I told him with surety.

"Ok," Elijah mumbled but I took his hand as Edward and Bella led the way.

"Edward, Bella why are you home so early?" a woman asked, seemingly older than Edward and Bella but forever stuck in her 20s. "You have brought guests?" she asked excitedly.

"This is Clara, Esme. She's the great great granddaughter of Phoebe."

"Oh my gosh," Esme exclaimed. "Yes I can see Bella in you," she smiled warmly, I wasn't expecting what she did next, she walked over to me and hugged me. It was strange hugging a stone but there was something so warm about Esme, she seemed so motherly I couldn't help but hug her back.

"You must be Madeleine's daughter," Esme smiled. I nodded slightly. "Carlisle! Carlisle you will never guess who is here," She called into the house, no louder than she was talking to me, it was seconds before the doctor that treated Elijah came into the room, he had blonde hair and seemed to be in his mid-20s.

"Clara Priya Cullen-Taylor," he smiled after saying my full name, he held out his hand and I took it, frankly awestruck that I was talking to _the_ Carlisle Cullen and he knew my full name. He kissed the back of my hand before letting it go. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you properly my dear, my name is Carlisle Cullen and I have heard so much about you. Your mother speaks very fondly of you, although she mentioned you didn't believe I existed," he said with a warm smile.

"Er… I didn't," I managed to say, I was still awestruck, it was like seeing a famous person, someone you knew so much about and told stories about them all the time and you were finally meeting them. He smiled wider at me.

"Do you believe now?" he asked, I swallowed and nodded.

"I think Clara is a bit overwhelmed," Bella said softly and she led me over to the open living room where there were about four couches. Bella sat next to me which I was grateful for and Elijah sat on the other side.

"Am I part vampire?" I suddenly blurted, this was my biggest question, something that was bugging me.

"No you're not," Bella answered with a frown as if she didn't understand why I would make this assumption.

"You're descended from our part human daughter, she had mostly human children and her children had mostly human children, you're from her sons line who was a shape shifter, both her children and his turned out to be immortal because of Renesmee's vampire gene, but the generation after didn't get that gene. You're from William's oldest daughter's line, Phoebe," Edward explained.

"That must have been horrible," I frowned.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Being immortal and seeing your children die," I explained.

"Well William's children are here, Aurora, William's granddaughter was turned after nearly dying giving birth to her daughter Priya."

"Priya is my grandma," I gasped. "So Aurora is my moms grandmother?"

"Yes."

"My mom believed all this stuff but I didn't, I had never seen her grandmother or any vampires and I just used to tell Sophie the stories but my mom truly believed it and I couldn't ever understand why."

"Well now you know, your mother was the last generation to have vampire grandparents." He began to explain.

"I'm so confused," Elijah moaned. I giggled slightly.

"I'll draw you a family tree," I joked just as the door opened and two people walked in I didn't recognise. For some reason I knew they weren't Cullen's but at the same time felt like they belonged here.

"We haven't began to explain you guys yet," Bella laughed at the couple, the female was beautiful, she was blonde and I would even say she was glowing, she had her hand in the males, he was literally the definition of tall dark and handsome, he had black hair and a long face and he didn't look American at all. The female looked like she could fit in anywhere.

"I thought Clara would like her wrist repaired," the woman said, her voice was like music. I noticed Elijah was gawking at her; the male's eyes flickered to Elijah as if a warning to back off.

"We haven't told them about abilities yet," Edward informed her.

"Well what a great way to explain," the woman said coming over to me, I felt like flinching away and cowering behind the couch. The couple had an aura of power and it made me want to run and hide. Elijah seemed transfixed by the beautiful woman.

"Hello, my name is Esther, this is Aleksander. We're not the kind of vampire you're used to but we're here to help," the woman said softly, I felt immediately relaxed in her presence, I wasn't afraid of her now, she was less intimidating when she was closer to me, she was alluring. Aleksander however… wasn't. I was still a little scared of him.

"He won't hurt you, he's here to heal you," she said and knelt in front of me. I looked to Bella at my side for confirmation; she took my hand and nodded in encouragement.

"Heal me? How?" I asked with a frown.

"Some vampires have special abilities, I can read minds, Alice can see the future, Jasper can influence your emotions, Bella has a shield to protect you, and Esther…. well she can do pretty much anything you can imagine. Aleksander can heal." Edward explained. I believed him; I knew Edward had read my mind earlier. I remained silent but I heard Elijah laughing in disbelief.

"Okay," I said and extended my arm out. Esther said something in a different language. I wasn't sure which one, either Russian, Bulgarian or something similar and Aleksander stepped towards me. He looked at me for permission and I nodded. He reached out and his hands clasped around my bandage on my wrist. He only held me for a moment before he let go and took a step back to stand with Esther again.

"That it?" I asked with a frown, I dropped Bella's hand and removed the bandage. There was no longer pain coming from my wrist, I could move my hand freely and wiggle my fingers and lean on it.

"Holy shit," Elijah mumbled.

"Would you like him to heal your bite?" Esther asked. I wondered why Esther spoke for him.

"Er yes please!" Elijah said enthusiastically.

"You'll have to keep the bandage on for a while, so your mother doesn't get suspicious of it magically healing," Edward told him, Elijah nodded as Aleksander's hands grasped Elijah's arm, he flinched slightly at the contact before Aleksander let go again. Elijah unravelled his bandage to see the wound was completely healed, only minor scarring.

"Wow dude!" Elijah said happily. "Thanks!"

Aleksander nodded once as if he was saying you're welcome.

"I will ask you back when we explain about your kind Esther, thank you," Edward said to her, she smiled to him and led Aleksander out of the room.

"Is Aleksander okay?" I asked in a whisper.

"He's not a very social person. He shadows Esther because he doesn't really know us that well. He's a long story… they both are," Bella laughed.

"We'll explain everything but right now we need to explain to you about something different to Esther and Aleksander. There are not just vampires in our world, there are witches and shape shifters…. and werewolves," Edward said with a pause.

"Werewolves?" I asked, I didn't like where this was going.

"You met one," he began. The yellow eyes. My breathing hitched. "Yes Clara, that dog that bit Elijah was a werewolf."

"What?" Elijah laughed, "Does that mean I am now too?"

"I'm afraid it does" Edward said sadly.

"No," I gasped and looked over at my best friend

"I can't be," Elijah frowned. "I'm fine I don't feel any different!"

"You won't until the next full moon; this is why we had to tell you, to prepare you and to warn you."

"Warn us about what?" I frowned.

"There's someone after the wolves, there's someone controlling them and I'm so sorry Clara but you seem to be in the middle of it. We don't know why they want you, we just know who wants you and we will protect you. We promise."

"Me? Why me?" I frowned.

"We don't know yet we just know that wolf was after you. It could just be because you're our descendant or something different. Cullen's have a target on their backs but they also have the most protection. You will not be harmed and we will not let Elijah become a pawn in Liana's games either," Edward explained, the name sent a shiver down my spine.

"Liana?" I asked with a frown.

"Yes… you recognise the name?" Edward asked.

I nodded in response. I had been having nightmares about that name every night for the past week. Why was it that I only just remembered that?

* * *

**Pictures are on my blog as well as a family tree explanation, I know this chapter may have been confusing, especially to new readers but just keep with it, things will get clearer, don't hesitate to ask me any questions.**

**And I want to clarify Axton's sisters name is pronounced 'a LEE nah' not like Elena.**


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